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The Abiding Gift of Prophecy - Contents
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    Ellen Harmon-White’s Christian Experience

    Bear in mind that the members of this company had passed through a most unusual experience together. They had been united in their ardent expectations, and in their disappointment and bewilderment. The large crowds that had met in Beethoven Hall prior to the day of expectation were now scattered. Only a few continued to be united, and these met for evening meetings in the Harmon home. They were well acquainted with the daughter Ellen. In deciding upon the merits of her claim to have received a heavenly vision, they would naturally consider her Christian experience and character. This was of such an unusual nature that it must have been well known to them.AGP 266.2

    In view of the express declaration that it was “holy men” who were moved by the Holy Spirit, we must expect to find a consistent Christian life in the one whom God chooses as His agent for revelation; therefore, brief mention should be made of Ellen Harmon’s spiritual experiences prior to the time of her choice as a messenger for God.AGP 266.3

    There had been two factors that affected her spiritual life. The first was an accidental injury received when she was nine years old. This resulted in severe suffering for a number of months, with an expectation of life-long invalidism if not, indeed, an early death. Then for two years she struggled against feelings of resentment against God for the blighting of her ambitions. Of this period she says:AGP 266.4

    “At times my sense of guilt and responsibility to God lay so heavy upon my soul, that I could not sleep but lay awake for hours, thinking of my lost condition and what was best for me to do…. I seemed to be cut off from all chance of earthly happiness, and doomed to continual disappointment and mortification…. My prospect of worldly enjoyment was blighted, and heaven seemed closed against me.” “Life Sketches: Ancestry, Early Life, Christian Experience, and Extensive Labors of Elder James White and His Wife, Ellen White,” pp. 135, 136. Battle Creek: Steam Press of the S. D. A. Publishing Association, 1888.

    Then the second advent proclamation reached the city of Portland. In the spring of 1840, William Miller delivered a series of lectures on the prophecies, and the city was stirred by his message of the nearness of Christ’s coming. The Harmon family attended the lectures, and Ellen listened with terror to the evidences presented. Not yet could she look with happiness and confidence to the coming of Christ as the Saviour of His people. She could only think of Him as coming in judgment to destroy sinners, including herself. Although seeking as a suppliant for mercy, yet she found little relief for a time. She says in her autobiography:AGP 267.1

    “When sinners were invited forward to the anxious seat, hundreds responded to the call, and I, among the rest, pressed through the crowd and took my humble place with the seekers. But there was a hopeless feeling in my heart that I could never become worthy to be called a child of God.” The Ministry of Healing, 137, 138.

    Months were spent in mental agony. Whole nights were passed in tearful prayers for pardon, but without clear assurance of acceptance with God. Like Bunyan, she suffered almost unbearable sorrow, depression, and despair.AGP 267.2

    But the day of relief came. It was at a Methodist camp meeting that she listened to a convincing discourse upon the pardoning love of Christ. She was impressed with the statement that “those who were waiting to make themselves more worthy of divine favor, before they dared venture to claim the promises, were making a fatal mistake. Jesus alone cleanses from sin; He only can forgive our transgressions. He has pledged Himself to listen to the petition and grant the prayer of those who come to Him in faith.” The Ministry of Healing, 140.AGP 267.3

    Of the lifting of the burden of despair, she says:AGP 267.4

    “While bowed at the altar with others who were seeking the Lord, all the language of my heart was: ‘Help, Jesus, save me or I perish! I will never cease to entreat till my prayer is heard and my sins forgiven.’ I felt my needy, helpless condition as never before. As I knelt and prayed, suddenly my burden left me and my heart was light. At first a feeling of alarm came over me and I tried to resume the load of distress again. It seemed to me that I had no right to feel joyous and happy. But Jesus seemed very near me; I felt able to come to Him with all my griefs, misfortunes and trials, even as the needy ones came to Him for relief when He was upon earth. There was a surety in my heart that He understood my peculiar trials and sympathized with me. I can never forget this precious assurance of the pitying tenderness of Jesus toward one so unworthy of His notice. I learned more of the divine character of Christ in the short period when bowed among the praying ones than ever before.” The Ministry of Healing, 142, 143.

    Soon after this Ellen was baptized, and was received as a member of the Methodist Church. By her own request she was immersed, as she was persuaded by her own experience and study that this was the scriptural mode of baptism.AGP 268.1

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